Any day that Hot Toys releases an original trilogy Star Wars figure is a good day for me! It's great that with this release, Hot Toys has tackled a character that hasn't been done for years in this scale, and is a massive improvement of course from the old Sideshow Lando figure.
Click the link below to watch my video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Hope you can subscribe too and stay tuned for upcoming reviews!
The set doesn't come with too much, but I guess there really isn't all that much to include from The Empire Strikes Back for Lando Calrissian. What has been included is all nicely done to do a great job for essentially a pretty simple figure.
The cardboard Cloud City backdrop is a little tacky though, and the way the flaps fold and connect is not very secure. But at least the weapons, communicator devices, and swap out hands are all well done. The cape is a nice felt material with some good stitching, although it is a pain to attach to the figure and look natural (more on that later).
The figure itself has a fantastic head sculpt. The slight smile is OK, but I actually would've preferred some sort of cheeky smirk. Either way, it has the typical Hot Toys realistic skin tone and fine texturing in the hair. The figure's outfit is beautifully tailored, and my favourite part of the figure. The shirt is a similar material to the cape, and is tucked in nicely and moves/folds in very realistic ways.
The pants are also well tailored, fitting well over the padded body. The belt looks a little plasticky, but from normal viewing distances is OK. The boots are the typical pleather material used for previous Star Wars figures, and still look nice with the outfit.
As mentioned earlier, the cape is a pain to put on the figure. It has movie-accurate straps that go over the shoulders and under the armpits. Just be careful in pulling on the elastic straps to make sure the collar can fit snugly around the neck. There is a small wire in the collar to bend it around the neck once you have the cape oriented the right way.
Eventually you can get it to sit quite naturally. It does tend to balloon out at the rear, but that's mostly hidden on display so just try to make the folds look natural from the front. The gold inner lining is a nice contrast to the baby blue material of the outer cape and shirt. I actually used a light iron to get out some wrinkles out of the box. Using a bit of water spray and the iron helped to tame it a bit.
Once set up, the figure does have a lot of shelf presence, and looks fantastic for such a simple figure. Together with the rest of the Empire Strikes Back rebels, the glaring omission of a Han Solo from the movie is readily apparent. All figures that Hot Toys have released from Episode 5 have been fantastic figures.
I really do hope that Hot Toys announce more Han Solo figures soon, as I would love to have a variant from Empire Strikes Back as well as his Endor outfit from Return of the Jedi. Here's hoping 2022 brings some good news for Star Wars collectors!
I absolutely hated The Last Jedi, and it made me angry in so many ways. I was going to pass on all the figures, but since Hot Toys did not release a Leia figure from The Force Awakens to go with Han, Chewie, and Luke, I decided to get their release of Leia from The Last Jedi.
Overall it's a pretty nice figure as expected by Hot Toys. Click the link below to check out by full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe to the channel to stay tuned for upcoming reviews :)
She certainly doesn't get packed with much at all, coming only with a stand, a few hands, blaster gun, and homing device. The gun is essentially the same as that from A New Hope with a few paint app changes. The home device looks too delicate and fiddly to place around her wrist, so I didn't even bother.
As always with fairly simple figures, the most critical aspect is the head sculpt. And again Hot Toys has done a great job. The likeness is pretty good, and the detailed stranding in the hair sculpt proves again why Hot Toys is the top of the game.
I think the sculpt could have been helped with more wrinkling in the face is give it a more realistic aged appearance. Hot Toys does tend to stylise their female figures and make them look younger or sleeker than they really are. But other than that, the head sculpt is great. All the usual paint details, glassy eyes and skin texture are there.
The outfit is not too bad. The material of the outer dark coat is a little stiff and doesn't tend to sit as naturally as I would like. I used a bit of warm water to soften it around the shoulders to get it to sit a little lower, which helped. The material does have a nice sheen to it, and seems quite similar to the cloak of the Emperor Palpatine figure at first glance.
The underlying robe is a very nice soft silky material. Hot Toys does some of the best work with costuming, and the tailoring and pleats are all very nicely done. Overall the complete look is a pretty accurate representation of her outfit in The Last Jedi.
Here are a few pics of the other Princess Leia figures I have in my collection. I'll probably end up getting at least one version of her from each major movie I like. I'll pass on the Bespin Leia outfit, so I'm pretty much just looking out for a new Return of the Jedi figure. Hopefully Hot Toys announces one soon!
Still love these two figures from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. You can't really get much more iconic than these two Princess Leia outfits from the original trilogy!
There's never been just one iconic costume for Princess Leia, and her style from Hoth is as memorable as any of her other outfits. This new release from Hot Toys does it justice, just as their first figure with her classic Death Star costume.
Click through below to check out my full review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe to the channel and give the video a like :)
Packaging style is what we've come to expect for Star Wars related figures, so nothing too special to write home about. The cardboard insert looks nice, but Hot Toys continues their trend of using inaccurate photos for their figures (eg. they used the Death Star 2 in the background which was not in The Empire Strikes Back!)
She doesn't come with too many accessories, but what she does come with is nicely detailed. I won't bother using the breathing apparatus or welding goggles. But the blaster is nicely painted in glossy black with the silver tip, and she looks great holding it.
The costume is nicely tailored, with great stitch and patch work throughout. Early reports had people receiving figures with strange coloured dots near the areas of patchwork. Apparently this is ink to guide the factory workers and sewers, but luckily mine was fine.
My first figure arrived with a broken arm and Sideshow sent me a replacement body. It was an absolute pain the arse to push the pants of the new body in the boots. I had to use quite a bit of force and one of the little tools Hot Toys gives with their Iron Man figures. That was the only way to push the pant material into the boots without them looking too bunched. I would not recommending taking those boots off for any reason!
The boots are a nice fake leather type material, with good ankle articulation. The overall body articulation is also decent, but the suit does restrict it a little. But you can still get her into a decent pose to try and replicate her attitude.
The head sculpt has a slight difference to the prototype. I do think the head sculpt is good, but could have been better. From some angles it looks perfect, but from others it looks too thin in the cheeks. Still, it's instantly recognisable and on par with their ANH Leia figure.
Overall, it's awesome that we're getting more original trilogy figures from Hot Toys. I really hope they do a Han Solo and Lando Calrissian from Empire one day! If you're a fan of Star Wars, I'd jump on board and grab this figure while you can!
It's taken seemingly forever for Hot Toys to finally release I think the last figure from their series of figures from The Force Awakens. Perhaps it was all down to some marketing strategy to release it closer to The Last Jedi hype train starting.
Either way, I think it's a pretty decent release if not something that is going to be overly memorable in the scheme of my collection. It's great to have good representations of old Han and old Luke to offset the other younger versions I have from the original trilogy.
Click through the link below to check out my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel! Scroll further down for more pics and thoughts.
The set doesn't really come with all that much to be honest. The bonus preorder stand is nicely sculpted and painted, but other than that all you really get are a few swap out hands. While we're on the hands, the relaxed hand, force gesture hand and its corresponding mechanical hand all seem slightly over sized. When the arms are at his side, the large hands really accentuate the gorilla look.
But swapping out to the more close fisted hands hides the size issue better, which is what I went with for my display pose. Those hands are more suited for posing him pulling back his hood, which is what many collectors will chose I think.
Aside from the hands, I think everything else on the figure is pretty great. There have been a few complaints about the head sculpt, but I think it matches the prototype photos well, and is a decent likeness from the movie scenes I've compared it against.
Similar to the old Han Solo sculpt though, Hot Toys went with a almost golden sheen look to the hair, whereas a much greyer colour would've matched not only te movie, but the colour of his painted beard too.
The outfit is very nicely tailored, with several layers and different materials. I like that they didn't use a wire for the hood, which makes curving it and using some water treatment a better way to pose it around the head. I still need a bit of work on mine, but you get the idea.
The magnets that hold the cloak to the shoulders could work a little better, and need decent futzing to get the material to lie realistically. I think in the last movie scene, the cloak can be seen to actually be sewn to his tunic that runs down the front of his body, which seems pretty silly. But I guess they need that to make sure it stayed on his shoulders! So Hot Toys' use of magnets is probably as best a compromise as any.
Articulation is decent, and getting the arms up for the pose was straight forward. The large and obvious wrist joint that becomes more visible is a bit of an eyesore, but not much can be done about that. Perhaps look for a smaller wrist joint from other figures that have a similar skin tone, which might work to hide it.
The torso area has some definite foam padding of some sort, that really seems to restrict the articulation in the torso area. But for most poses I was going for, it wasn't too big a deal. The material of the pants doesn't hinder the hips or upper legs, so you could go for wider action poses if you wanted.
There's not too much ankle movement though with the use of sculpted boots. The ankle is separate to the calf area, so you can can some rocking action there, but not too much on mine. It would've been nice if they went with material for the strapping and boots, similar to the previous DX07 Luke Skywalker, but it's not too big a deal.
Standing with the other heroes from The Force Awakens, I think Hot Toys has done a pretty great job with all of these figures. Each of them aren't perfect in their own right, with at least a few things to complain about with them all (eg. Chewie's snout, Finn's excessive height, Rey's lack of height).
But together I think they look pretty amazing. The only figures I really hope they make for The Last Jedi that they missed for the previous movie would be General Leia and Poe Dameron. If they make those two for the new movie, I think I'll be happy enough for the new trilogy.
Up on display with the bad guys I have from the movie, I like the overall aesthetic that they went with. Familiar of course, but at least different enough to be interesting. I'm not sure I'll be tempted to get any more trooper figures, but will be interesting to see how Captain Phasma and Snoke play out in the new movie.
So to summarise, if you were a fan of The Force Awakens and started collecting these Hot Toys figures, I think you'll be pretty pleased with this new old Luke Skywalker. I'm sure there'll be a new Luke released for The Last Jedi, but this one will do for me.
I recently received the new Hot Toys MMS376 two figure set of Han Solo and Chewbacca from The Force Awakens. I do have the previous set from A New Hope, which was fantastic, and so couldn't resist the new one.
Early pics of Chewbacca and my up close look at Frank and Sons on my USA trip made me very nervous. The snout looked terrible in those instances. But when I opened mine, I didn't think it looked as bad as I had previously seen. And of course the head sculpt on the old Han Solo looked pretty fantastic.
So overall, I'm still pretty happy with the set! Read on below or click the video review links for more details and thoughts :) Chewbacca video review:
Han Solo video review:
The packaging is the standard Hot Toys Star Wars style, which isn't overly exciting anymore. The cardboard insert is a nice collage of images as always.
The contents of the set are pretty awesome, with all the accessories you'd expect from the movie. Just as awesome as the first A New Hope set.
Straight out of the box, Chewbacca definitely needs some work, but mine is not as bad as some of the other horror pics posted in the Facebook groups. I think overall, the Chewbacca is every bit as good as the previous ANH Chewbacca. As for Han, out of the box the neck collar is a bit weird, but some water futzing will help that.
The accessories are great quality, and I love Han's blue winter jacket. The tailoring is really nice with a nice material used too. The weapons are nicely painted and weathered. The only part I don't like are Chewbacca's hands. They are just far too orange in the fur and it makes it look like orangutan hands more than a Wookie!
Here's a comparison pic between my two versions of Chewbacca. The ANH version I find far too dark, and the TFA version too orange around the hands and feet. But overall, I'd say I prefer the fur colouring of the new TFA.
And from this pic, you can see the face on both versions is far from perfect. I'm not the best futzer, and other collectors could improve the look of both significantly with futzing skills. But in the end, I think both still look great on display and I'm happy enough with the way they look.
Closer pics of the face. Using a comb to tease out the fur around the snout and chin definitely improves things. People have done significant mods to close the gap between the nose and upper lip, but there's no way I'm doing such mods to totally reconstruct the face!
Han's head sculpt is right up there with the best from Hot Toys I think. The likeness was captured very nicely, although a touch more white in the hair would've been nicer. The smuggler outfit and quality of the jacket and holster is also up to the usual high Hot Toys standard.
My holster did have a missing silver stud, but thankfully they include spares that I just glued back into the spot. The little cylinders that go into Han's jacket are easier to insert from the bottom, so just go slow to avoid tearing the jacket!
And here they are below together with Finn and Rey. They certainly look great displayed together. I just hope they announce a Poe for The Last Jedi, and perhaps Leia too. It would round out these characters nicely.
So overall, I think if you liked the previous ANH set, you'll be equally impressed with this new TFA set. And if you're a TFA fan, I think you'll like the set too of course. Try to look for a bargain at various retailers, and I think you'll be able to pick up the set for a good price!
I've been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a kid growing up in the 80s. Ever since I starting collecting 1/6th scale figures, the dream has always been to get the core Star Wars cast from the original movie. I could've gone back to get some of the older versions, but being spoiled by Hot Toys quality, I decided to wait.
And now that Hot Toys have finally completed the core cast of heroes from A New Hope, I can definitely say that they have made the dream come true! These figures are overall pretty damn fantastic, and this release of Princess Leia tops it off with perhaps the best head sculpt of them all!
Click through below for my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!
The packaging art is the usual classy style, with nice editing on the cardboard insert. Unfortunately they've still gone with the Death Star 2 from Return of the Jedi instead of the first from A New Hope! Minor detail, but something they should've known lol
I got the exclusive version with the backdrop of the scene where she hands over the plans to Artoo. It's a pretty flimsy kind of cardboard, so definitely not the quality of the backdrops we used to get in the DX releases. So if you missed out and just got the regular, I don't think it's a big deal at all.
Accessories-wise she's pretty barebones, with some hands and the two blasters that she used in the movie. The big selling point of course is the head sculpt itself. Initial prototype photos looked amazing, and thankfully they haven't really changed too much for this final production version.
The sculpt and paint application is beautifully done. Some figures only have a good likeness from certain angles, whereas this sculpt looks pretty spot on from every angle. The hair is also nicely done, and I'm definitely glad they went with sculpted hair and not rooted hair on this! The buns look great!
Some people have said the facial expression is a little bland. It's a neutral expression for sure, but I think it conveys her natural beauty really nicely. To me, it doesn't have that blank zombie stare like some other Hot Toys female sculpts have had in the past.
The iconic white Death Star outfit has its pros and cons for sure. The overall look for me is great, although the length at the ankles could have been more to reflect the way the movie costume dragged on the floor.
Hot Toys used a very thin material, but luckily it doesn't feel too delicate to touch or move. I think they went with such a sheer material to try and replicate that see-through texture that it had in the movie. But that removes any weight from the costume so it is difficult to get it to hang right on the body.
To prevent the material from ballooning out at the waist and thighs, they actually designed it with some garter belt type straps around her thighs that are then sewn to attach to the outfit itself. I worry that over time that area might get damaged or degrade, so something to watch out for.
The hood is wired, but in the end that is almost its downfall too because it is extremely difficult to get it to lie flat along her back when the hood is down. I haven't bother trying to cover her head with it, so left the wires folded the way they were out of the box. It sat against the back fairly well, but any slight movement will make it start bending away from the body, which ruins a bit of the realism that a nice heavier material would have. The pic below is the best that I could do, so that will be the way it stays!
The boots are nicely done though, with a good leather look to them. The best thing is that they don't have the collapsed ankle issue that plagues the Han Solo figure. I'm not sure if they added extra padding there, or simply that the ankle pegs are not as long to have a gap. Either way, it articulates well without having a bad unrealistic bend in the ankle.
Despite the issues with the costume, overall I think it looks fantastic. As a representation of Princess Leia in her Death Star outfit, this is certainly the best figure ever done for that look. Together with the other figures from the core cast, they all look incredible together. It's taken a while for this setup to finally be possible in my collection. But Hot Toys have definitely made it worth the wait!
Each time I get one of the new Hot Toys Star Wars original trilogy figures, it just brings a sense of joy that only nostalgia for your favourite movies can bring! These figures are simply incredible, and include a great array of accessories. The new Luke Skywalker figure in his Tatooine outfit is now exception.
Perhaps the only negative point for me is that the head sculpt isn't as good as that shown on the front box art! The final production sculpt still seems a bit off, but overall is still a fantastic package by Hot Toys.
Click the link below to check out my full video review :)
Finally got the new Hot Toys Han Solo and Chewbacca 2-pack set from Sideshow Collectibles, and what an incredible set it is!! After getting Obi-wan recently, I didn't think Hot Toys could do much better, but this Chewbacca is hands down my figure of the year!
Here's the link to Part 1 of my video review on this set focusing on the scoundrel himself. A few issues, but overall still an awesome figure.
And here's Part 2 focusing on the walking carpet himself! Words cannot express how amazed I am by this figure!
The box art is the usual style, so nothing to dramatic to talk about here. The cardboard insert art is pretty nice though.
Once you get all the contents out, the set certainly has an impressive array of accessories. If you get the 2-pack, you'll get the heavy blaster and Han's stormtrooper belt as exclusive bonuses that you'll miss out on if you get these two separately. These guys certainly belong together, so I highly recommend buying the two pack!
The head sculpt of Harrison Ford would appear to be the hardest to match in 1/6th scale format. This latest attempt by Hot Toys is still not perfect, but is better than anything that has come before. It's certainly an improvement over the prototype photos.
But again, it's the paint application detail that takes Hot Toys to the next level, with their usual incredible realism. The outfit is also damn nice, until of course you get to the boots and the ankles!
The body uses long ankle pegs, and there is nothing to pad them out, so the boots bend and fold very unnaturally at the ankles. Many collectors have taken the boots off and taped cardboard or foam or bubble wrap around the ankles to pad out the gap when placing the boot back on. It's an essential mod for this figure; you're otherwise left with something that looks like his ankles are broken!
Other than those couple of nitpicks though, the figure is pretty nice and an essential part of any Star Wars collection!
Chewbacca is simply an amazing figure. With its full fur suit, I just can't comprehend how they pulled it off! The fur is not overly delicate, and so can be handled normally without too much fear of damage. Even the facial sculpt is great with the tight fur around the mouth etc.
I think you just need to use the little brush that's included to futz with the hair and get it looking as accurate as you want it to the movie scenes. The fur around the chin can perhaps be pulled out a little to fill his face more, and the fur on the arms and legs can be tidied up.
But everything else, from the articulation to the accessories is just superb!
If you're remotely a Star Wars fan, I would highly recommend these figures. They just look sensational next to each other, and complemen their OT Star Wars line perfectly!
My first of the new Hot Toys core cast of Star Wars figures arrive the other week. And what an absolutely amazing figure it is! This figure just proves without a doubt why Hot Toys is by far the best in the 1/6th game right now, setting a standard that other companies can only aspire to right now.
Here's my full video review below over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Hope you can check it out :)
Package art is pretty much the stock standard boring style mandated by Lucasfilm. But it does the job, and the insert art is pretty nice.
Content wise, it doesn't come with much, but the light-up sabre is a nice touch. I probably won't use it, but the option is good to have for photo opportunities.
The stand out of course is the head sculpt and layered outfit for me. The attention to detail, such as the patchwork on the inner outfit, is just superb! The material of the outer robe is fantastic, with a coarser outer layer but nice soft inner layer - just awesome tailoring in this scale.
If this is the quality that Hot Toys will push out for the remainder of the core Star Wars cast, then I think every Star Wars fan's dream will come to reality very soon! These are simply amazing figures, and Hot Toys is doing these iconic characters justice for sure!
Stay tuned for my reviews of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the Spacetrooper soon! Make sure to check out the Obi-wan review link
I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and I think 2015 and early 2016 will be a great time for 1/6th scale fans. Ever since I started collecting this larger scale, I've always wanted the core cast of the original Star Wars movie, and Hot Toys is now finally going to deliver! And they all look pretty spectacular!
The Stormtroopers have been out for a while now, but I have yet to receive my preorder here in Australia. The exclusive version is now on waitlist, but the regular version is widely available still I think. With the different heights, I'm sure they'll do a Luke/Han in disguise set once they get the core cast out the way. I love the little mouse droid, and the glossy finish on the armour is pure win for me :)
The Shadow Trooper was released not long after the Stormtrooper two-pack, and I was definitely glad to be able to get my hands on one. It's a fantastic figure! Again, the glossy finish adds a really nice premium feel to it, and the subtle weathering is nice too. It's sold out now, so your chances are limited I think unless you pay crazy prices in the aftermarket.
The next set to be released will be Han and Chewbacca, which can be ordered separately or as a combined two-pack. As with the Stormtrooper set, the two-pack is definitely the way to go since it gives additional accessories not provided if you order them separately. With Chewie being a full synthetic fur body, I reckon it will be the figure of the year! If they tweak the Han sculpt to look more like him, it'll be the perfect start to the core hero cast!
Next up is then Darth Vader, which is different to the Sideshow Deluxe figure in that it's the Ep4 costume not the Return of the Jedi costume. It also comes with the nice little Interrogator Droid accessory. I think this time Hot Toys will include a light up feature on the lightsaber, which I actually prefer to do without! I don't like little electronic gimmicks that I rarely use and tend to break! But still, definitely looking forward to posing this with the Obi-wan figure!
Before Obi-wan is released however, it looks like Hot Toys plans to release another trooper with their Spacetrooper. These troops were seen for only a few seconds in the scene where the Millenium Falcon is being brought into the Death Star. The external shot of the Falcon caught in the tractor beam is pretty iconic, but many miss the tiny little troopers in the foreground with their space gear.
Up next is Old Obi-wan, which to me looks absolutely fantastic! The head sculpt and detailing in the costume looks incredible, despite many collectors saying the sculpt is off. It looks like Alec Guiness to me, and the robe seems to fit and flow beautifully. Having this displayed in the cabinet with their Darth Vader will be perfect iconic awesomeness!
Hot Toys has just officially announced the Sandtrooper as well for an early release in 2016. I still think the old Sideshow Deluxe Sandtrooper holds up extremely well to this, and in fact has more accessories I think. Either way, having both side by side will be a great comparison, and will look awesome displayed together.
And finally, some teaser pics were posted recently from Japanese toy magazines showing the Death Star Leia and Tatooine Luke figures that we've all been waiting to see! The Leia figure even looks to have rooted hair for her buns, which hopefully they do well. I don't have too much experience with rooted hair so hopefully it doesn't need to much maintenance! The Luke figure looks nice and simplistic, but it'll all come down to the head sculpt on that one too.
The preorder for Luke and Leia isn't up yet, but hopefully official prototype pictures and preorder details will be up soon. For me, I'm just glad to finally get the chance to have the entire core cast from the original movie at Hot Toys quality! It'll be a day long remembered when they're all home :)
EDIT: I almost forgot about the 1/4 scale figures they're doing too, with ROTJ Boba Fett and ROTS Darth Vader. For me, I just can't afford these much larger figures, and the size and space they need to be displayed well. So I'll stick to the 1/6th scale figures :)
